Buckle



July 18, 1939- 4. B. FREYSINGER 2,166,902

BUCKLE Filed Nov. 15, '1957 Fly! A F192 l v 1..... l r av...

JOHN@ @EMS/NGE@ Stumm/g Patented July 18, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFlCE to North and Judd Manufacturing Company,l New Britain, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application November 1 1i Claims.

The present invention relates to buckles for wearing apparel such as belts.

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved buckle of the type wherein one part telescopes into the other and snaps into interlocking engagement.

A further object is a buckle which is simple in construction and effective in operation and so manufactured that upon slipping one part within the other they will remain in locking relationship dueto the natural resiliency of the metal and remain locked until manually released.

Other objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out more in detail'hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combination of elements, and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the construction hereafter set forth and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing which illustrates one embodiment which the present invention may take:

Figure 1 is a front view of the buckle as applied to the ends of a belt;

Fig. 2 is a rear view of the assembled buckle in locked position;

Fig. 3 is a rear view of the front member of the buckle;

Fig. 4 is a rear view of the rear member of the buckle;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view on the line 5--5 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view on the line 6 6 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 7 is a sectional view showing the parts in relative positions as they are being moved into locking engagement; and

Fig. 8 is a sectional view showing the parts in relative positions just prior to the locking thereof.

Referring to the drawing, there is provided a front plate A and a rear plate B adapted to telescope Within plate A and be detachably connected thereto. These plates may be of any suitable desired shape and configuration and are preferably formed from sheet metal stampings having an inherent resiliency. Each plate is provided at its trailing edge with a suitable clamping member C adapted to secure each member to one end of a belt D. The foregoing parts are all of usual construction and are common to buckles of this type.

In accordance with the present invention, the front plate is, by preference, longitudinally curved and has, at its upper and lower edges I0, rear- 3, 1937, serial No.-174,415 (o1. 2li-23o) wardly turned flanges II which are substantially co-extensive with the width of plate A. Turned inwardly from flanges II and parallel to plate A are a pair ofroppositely disposed flanges or guide members I2 which are spaced from plate A to serve as a guidetherewith. The flange I2 is substantially one-third the width of member A and is centrally disposed relative to the leading edge I3 and trailing edge I4 thereof. The trailing edge I5 of guide member I2 further serves as a locking means and the front face I5 thereof constitutes a pivot support, as will be hereinafter described.

The rear plate B may be slightly curved and is of such size that its top and bottom marginal edges Il will engage within the guideway formed by flanges II and member I2 of the front plate A. The rear plate is provided at its leading edge I8 and adjacent its top and bottom marginal edges I'I with a pair of rearwardly extending locking lips 20, and transversely disposed therebetween is a manual releasing bar 2|. There is further provided on plate B a transverse rearwardly depressed portion or pivot 22 located about midway between the leading edge I8 and trailing edge 29 and about which the member B may be pivoted or rocked; it being noted that the edge of locking lips and pivot 22 are in substantial alignment. The rocking or pivoting actuating means comprises a spring finger or tongue struck out of the metal of the plate B. The spring 25 is centrally located relative to the top and bottom marginal edges I'I of plate B with its free end 26 disposed intermediate of the locking lips 20 and pivot 22 and its fixed end 21 integral with plate B intermediate of the pivot 22 and the trailing edge 29. It will be noted (Figs. 5 and 8) that the free end 25 of the spring 25 normally lies forwardly of the plane of the plate B. Thus, when it is compressed, it will tend to pivot the trailing edge 29 forwardly.

With the arrangement so described, when it is desired to close the buckle, the leading edge I8 and locking lips 2l] of the plate B are slipped in behind the anges I2 of plate A (see Fig. '7) the spacing between the rear face of plate A and front face offlange I2 being just slightly greater than the depth of locking fingers 25. As the free end of spring 25 lies forwardly of the plane of plate B, it will be brought into engagement with plate A when the pivot 22 abuts the leading edge 35 of the guide member I2. As the plate B is further urged into locking position (see Fig. 8), the pivot 22 will move upwardly onto the iront ,face I 5 of guide member I2 and place spring 25 under compression, tending to distort it into the same longitudinal plane as plate B. It will be observed that the width of flange I2 is just slightly greater than the distance between the locking lips 20 and pivot 22 of plate B, necessitating the movement of plate B a predetermined distance over flange or guide member I2 to carry locking lips 20 beyond the locking shoulders I5, whereupon the pressure of spring 25 will cause the plate to rock on the pivot 22 and move the locking lips 20 rearwardly into engagement with the locking shoulders I5 and the trailing edge 29 will be rocked forwardly to abut plate A. As the spring 25 will remain under compression, the parts wil1 remain in assembled position. When it is desired to release same, the releasing bar 2I is manually pushed forwardly to rock plate B on pivot 22, moving the locking lips 20 out of engagement with the locking shoulders I5. Then, upon a slight side movement, the pivot 22 will slide off the front or pivot face I6 and the parts again assume the position shown in Fig. '7 whereupon plate B may be readily withdrawn from engagement with plate A.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the language used in the following claims is intended to cover all of the generic and specic features of the invention herein described and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

I claim as my invention:

l. A buckle of the character described, comprising two separable plates, one of said plates being provided with oppositely disposed guide members spaced rearwardly from and parallel thereto, the other plate being receivable between said guide members and said rst plate and having at its leading edge rearwardly turned locking lips engageable behind the trailing edge of said guide members, said second plate also having a pivot intermediate of its leading and trailing edges and receivable on the front face of said guide member, and a spring iinger carried by said second plate and having a free end positioned intermediate of the locking lips and pivots and adapted to abut the rear face of the rst plate and be compressed when the pivot is positioned on the front face of the guide members whereby said second plate will be pivotally moved to engage said locking lips with the trailing edge of said guide member.

2. A buckle of the character described, comprising two separate plates, one of said plates being provided with oppositely disposed guide members spaced rearwardly from and parallel thereto, the other plate being receivable between said guide member and rst plate and having at its leading edge rearwardly turned locking lips engageable behind the trailing edge of said guide member, said second plate also having a pivot intermediate of its leading and trailing edges and adapted to be received on the front face of said guide member, and a spring linger integrally secured to said second plate near the trailing edge and having a free end intermediate of the locking lips and pivot, said free end of the spring normally lying forwardly of the plane of the second plate and being adapted to abut the rear face of the rst plate and be compressed when the pivot is positioned on the front face of said guide member to pivot said second plate and move said locking lips into locking engagement with the trailing edge of the guide members, a bar interconnecting said locking lips and adapted upon being pressed to pivot said second plate to compress the spring and move said locking lips Out of l engagement with said guide member.

3. In a buckle of the character described, comprising two separable plate members, one of said plate members being provided at its top and bottom edges with rearwardly and inwardly turned anges, said inwardly turned iianges constituting guide members, the other plate member being receivable between said guide members and rst plate member and having at its leading edge rearwardly turned lips engageable behind the trailing edges of said guide members, said second plate member having a transverse rearwardly recessed portion intermediate of its leading and trailing edges and adapted to be positioned on the front face of the guide members, said second plate member having a spring nger intermediate of the locking lips and depressed portion adapted to abut said rst plate member and be compressed when the depressed portion is positioned on the front face of the guide member whereby said locking lips will be moved into locking engagement.

4. A buckle of the character described, cornprising two separable plate members, one of said plate members being provided with oppositely disposed guide members spaced rearwardly from and parallel thereto, the other plate member being receivable between said guide members and I tion constituting a pivot intermediate of the lock- J;

ing lips and trailing edge and receivable on the front face of said guide members, and a spring finger for pivoting the second plate member having its free end intermediate of the locking lips and pivot and lying in a plane forwardly thereof and having its fixed end integral with the second plate member intermediate of the depression and trailing edge, whereby when said pivot rests on the front face of the guide member the spring will be compressed to pivot the second plate member to rock the locking lips rearwardly into engagement with the trailing edge of the guide member and the trailing edge of the second plate member forwardly to abut the rear face of the first plate member.

JOHN B. FREYSINGER. 

